Title Synopsis:
Break the Silence, Reclaim Your Voice, and Rise in Leadership.
Too many women rise through the ranks of corporate life carrying the weight of experiences they’ve never been allowed to name. The pressure to be competent, composed, agreeable, and endlessly resilient creates a silent barrier that keeps talented career women stuck—especially when they’re ready to step into senior leadership. Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About, But Don’t brings those hidden conversations into the light.
Women navigating director-level and executive-track roles face challenges no one names out loud, even though they shape how women are judged, promoted, and perceived. These aren’t personality problems or confidence gaps. They’re cultural and structural realities that shape leadership potential—and they rarely appear in traditional leadership books, career guides, or women’s empowerment manuals.
Drawing from years of coaching career women inside large organizations, Nicole Johnston offers a candid, grounded look at the real issues holding women back. She brings language, clarity, and relief to the pressures women experience but rarely discuss, and she shows how naming these truths can unlock stronger leadership, clearer boundaries, and sustainable professional growth.
Inside this book, you’ll explore five core taboo topics:
• The hidden rules of executive presence—and why women are evaluated differently.
• The emotional labor tax that drains confidence and performance.
• The pressure to overdeliver and how it sabotages strategic visibility.
• The guilt, burnout, and internalized expectations women quietly carry.
• The real conversations women need to have to move from capable to promotable.
If you’re a woman who has worked hard, led well, and still feels unseen or stalled, this book offers the honesty, validation, and strategy you’ve been missing. Taboo Topics gives you the clarity to move forward, the courage to speak up, and the confidence to lead at the level you’re meant for.
Author Bio: In addition to being a dedicated Hawkeye and lover of cats, Nicole is a passionate, inspirational global senior Sales & Marketing FMCG/CPG executive, who has led $1B+ businesses to remarkable success in both traditional and e-commerce/digital channels. She has worked for companies like Procter & Gamble, Hershey Foods, Kimberly-Clark, and Newell Brands. Her expertise lies in identifying potential threats and risks, launching new markets, products, and services profitably, and leading diverse teams to achieve record-breaking results. But there's more to Nicole than just impressive business acumen. As a seasoned leader, Nicole found her true joy and value in providing positive and professional support to people facing career challenges. Her ability to lead with kindness as well as inspiring and uplifting others has had a broad and transformative impact on organizations, helping countless individuals thrive.
Driven by this profound passion for making a difference, Nicole made a bold move from the fast-paced corporate world to become an Executive & Leadership coach and establish innatePOWER. Her desire now is to leverage her wealth of experience to ease the way for other women, guiding and supporting them to overcome obstacles and achieve their fullest potential, enabling them to grow.
Nicole is a certified Executive, Leadership and Organizational Development coach who believes in fostering growth and positivity—not just within businesses, but in the lives of the people she touches. She has a deep-seated belief in the power of compassionate leadership and a genuine desire to make the world a better place, one person at a time.
NICOLE JOHNSTON
Executive & Leadership Coach
www.innate-power.com
Author: Nicole Johnston
Narrator: Andy Garcia
Publisher: Self-Published
Copyright: 2025 Nicole Johnston
Audiobook Release Date: 5/14/2025
Original Book Release Date: 4/8/2025
Running Time: 08:56:30
Audiobook ISBN: 9781965655382
